Bechdel Test Movie List

Of the two women that talk to each other, only one of them is plot-significant.

the lead female character burns a theater full of nazis to the ground - she should get extra for being bad&ss.

What the hell is dubious about this?

I'm unsure if the two female protagonists ever actually talk to each other or to other women.

Unless you count Shoshanna talking to Goebbels' interpreter, the female characters don't converse. They do converse with the male characters about things which don't involve romance, (particularly Von Hammersmarck), so while I don't think the film is particularly sexist and actually is very respectful of the women in the story, it doesn't pass Bechdel.

Agree with John... there is no conversation!

Unless there is another that passes Bechdel, the scene with the translator doesn't pass imho -- the point of rule 3 is to ensure that the women are engaged in an exchange sufficiently independent of men. Being a translator thoroughly violates the spirit of rule 3. The rating (currently a smily face with exclamation mark) should be changed, unless we're all forgetting about a different conversation that satisfies the 3 criteria...

The two female protagonists are amazing in this movie- neither cares about romance at all and they're both driven by ideology, which is what the Bechdel test is really looking for. In the screenplay, there's a scene where Shoshanna talks to the former owner of the movie theatre; I think most of it was cut, but I still think Tarantino actually wrote two perfect, deeply feminist and totally asskicking female characters in this film.

Yeah, and Sex and the City 2 is a sexist, stereotyped piece of trash that makes women look like shallow, merchandise consumed assholes. It doesn't matter what inner truth about female portrayal the Bechdel Test is meant to convey, a film passes or doesn't pass it on the basis of its stated qualifications.

This movie, that although representing women very well, does not pass the Bechdel test. There are women represented in spades in an otherwise male-centric movie, but interaction is limited.

This movie underscores an inherent problem with the Bechdel test that although a movie may be really feminist ( where usbrepresebts the female characters on an equal playing field) it can fail, and a strongly misognistic movie that purely exploits female sterotypes, like Sex in the City, can pass.

The bechdel test is not a test of feminism but of female involvement.

The irony? The script originally had Shoshanna's "Aunt" as a significant portion of the plot. This would have allowed the movie to pass the Bechdel test. Her removal actually bumped the movie down a notch on the Bechdel scale.

Sometimes movies with strong female characters don't pass the test because the 3 rules are not exactly perfect.
Similarly, not particularly feminist movies can pass the test because the 3 rules can boil down to just technicalities.
We have to make a decision: Either
a) To relax the rules for the movies which don't pass the test on technicalities, thus allowing us to not pass movies that pass on just a technicality.
b) Not relax the rules at all.

We can't have it both ways, that's what a lot of people are doing.

I wouldn't call the invisibilization of half the human population a "respectful treatment of women." Not having more flaws (like overt misogyny) has nothing to do with the flaws it does have. The Bechdel Test deals with the flaw of invisibilization, which is degrading and common to even more movies than a standard of simple misogyny.

The movie simply does not pass the test. The female characters do not talk to each other. It would have been simple for the movie to pass the test (by including Shoshanna's "aunt", the former theater owner), but the choice was made. Yes the named female characters are strong, but in the movie they are portrayed as inhabiting a world completely surrounded by men. All of their support is from men, and much of the heavy lifting done by men. That's the problem with supposedly feminist movies that fail the Bechdel test (as this one does): the women are still portrayed as needing only men in order to get anything done. Other women are invisible.

No conversation between women, no pass. Should be 2/3.

On a very basic, fundamental level, a film in which women have no dialogue except with men is one which is intrinsically focused on male characters to the exclusion of female characters.

It doesn't really matter if they are "strong," "bad assed," or in any other way assed.

Really.

While there might be edge conditions that challenge the Bechdel Test, such as a film with only two speaking parts, one female and one male, "Inglourious Basterds" is not one of them.

I agree with Amity. Having one strong female character makes her seem like the exception to the norm. We never even have to think about most movies passing the male version of the test just shows how unreasonable it is to have a film that doesn't have two femal characters with names talk to eachother about something other then a man. I love this test. I think its perfect the way it is.

I agree with Alex. The point of rule 3 is to ensure that the women are engaged in an exchange sufficiently independent of men. Being a translator thoroughly violates the spirit of rule 3. This film passes rules 1 and 2, but it doesn't pass rule 3 by a long-shot.

"On a very basic, fundamental level, a film in which women have no dialogue except with men is one which is intrinsically focused on male characters to the exclusion of female characters. "

I see the problem in that WWII soldiers were almost all men. Sure women were involved in espionage/resistance- but Tarantino is limited by the fact that the soldiers really have to be men- and Geobbels has to be male.

He should be applauded for having two strong female roles- even though he fails this test.

I agree with the other posters. This movie cannot be considered to pass the Bechdel test, as Shoshanna's conversation with Goebbels' female interpreter can't be considered a conversation between women - as the interpreter is just translating what someone else is saying, Shoshanna's conversation must really be considered to be with Goebbels.

So unless we all are forgetting some other scene, this film should only pass 1 of 3 tests; not 3. It's still a great movie, but it doesn't pass the test as far as I can make out.

this is an awesome film with awesome female leads who work as free agents in the plot, however, it simply doesn't pass the third rule.
there is an unnamed character talking to von hammershmidt about other men, present in the conversation, and there is the translation scene, that people talked about. both of those scenes don't pass.

Agree with the comments below about how the movie substantively fails but clearly the interpreter Mondino is named so it passes the letter of the test.

I agree with the comments made above. It did not pass all of the requirements, as the main requirement was not met- two women talking to each other. There was only one main character that was a woman.